Two Sides of the Story
by lucylikestowrite
Summary: This is a short fic set just after episode 61, just about both of their feelings and the letter. It contains spoilers (I guess)


Ok. Second fic. I have stayed up an hour later than I should have to get this written before tomorrow's episode. It is basically set just after the end of episode 61, and is both of their feelings about the letter and what's in it. It's a lot more canon than my other fic, a dinner not a date. I hope you enjoy it, review if you want to. Obviously, I own neither P&P or The LBD.

* * *

'I'm sorry, if I made your visit here awkward, or unpleasant in any way.'

Darcy got up from his seat, then hesitated. He wanted to rip the letter from her hands, to hide his feelings and just leave. But he could not do that. Lizzie _needed _to know the truth.

As he walked out, he contemplated the past week. How could he have been so stupid, on that terrible evening, to think that she had had feelings for him. Feelings that were anything other than hatred, anyway.

Walking away from her office, he felt like pounding the wall with his hands. Lizzie brought out emotions in him that he did not feel much; emotions that were bubbling over inside him. Just being in the same room as her made him feel happy inside. There was something about the way she was. But he could not reveal anything more to her face-to-face. Just seeing her reactions to everything he seemed to say wrong was like a dagger twisting inside his stomach.

He hoped that the letter would explain things to her more clearly. He just could not bear the thought of her mind poisoned with the libellous words of Mr George Wickham. When he'd seen watched her videos, seen George's 'story time', seen the way he'd looked at her, Darcy had felt sick. He had wanted to break things around him. He had wanted to storm into the office the next morning and take back everything he had said to her. But somehow he could not. There was something about her that he could not let go.

He though back to the many hours he had spent, writing that letter. Writing it, re-writing it, writing it again. He wondered whether she would read it yet, whether she believed him. He wanted her to know the truth.

Just thinking about George made him angry. He could not believe that he could ever tell such lies to Lizzie. To say that 'Darvid' had been cruel to him. How could he lie? How could he lie about what had happened between him and Darcy? That Darcy had been in the wrong? How could he say that, knowing what he had done to Gigi?

And to say that he had been denied money for college? That was a lie. Wickham had always wanted to be a lawyer. Darcy's dad had promised to pay for it. But when Wickham turned 18, he just wanted the money. Cash, he said. And then he turned up, three years later, demanding tuition money. And Gigi… Darcy shuddered. He hated the man so much. Anyone who did… that to his sister, who told lies to the woman he loved, did not deserve his time.

But watching the videos had enlightened him in ways other than just George's dishonesty. Seeing Jane and Bing together had made him doubt his previous actions. Seeing Jane crying on screen had been more than he was prepared for. He had closed his laptop and sighed. Quite literally. It had seemed that he really had messed things up. Everyone seemed to think it; even Charlotte. Charlotte who he had never before hear voice an opinion, only speak about work, had criticised him. This had been more than he could take, and as he had asked if he could sit, he had felt his hands shaking slightly.

He hoped the letter explained things to Lizzie. He wanted to her to understand his actions, at least, as it seemed that forgiveness was unattainable.

He looked up as his email pinged.

* * *

'Fine.'

Lizzie opened the letter, and read the first lines.

'Please don't worry, Lizzie, that this letter is simply me repeating myself. After much consideration, and the enlightenment of watching your videos, I believe I must explain myself. I do not wish to harm you, and therefore I ask that you read this fully , and apologise for any inconvenience that this causes you.'

Wow, she thought. He writes even more formally than he talks. She read on.

'I believe that in your eyes, I have offended you twice. Firstly, because I separated your sister and Bing; and secondly, because you believe me to have been unkind to Mr Wickham.'

Well, he had that right, she thought. But he had also been arrogant, proud, and selfish. Lizzie read an extremely eloquent paragraph about how Darcy 'hadn't believed that Jane's feelings were genuine' and expected 'that your knowledge of her as a sister is more than I know, but from my viewpoint, Jane seemed minimally invested in the relationship'. In Lizzie's opinion, those months Jane spent with Bing, Jane had seemed more in love and happy than ever before, but to an outsider? Jane did not show her emotions outwardly much. She rarely let down the barriers to anyone but the people she knew and trusted. Lizzie thought she remembered Charlottes saying something about how Jane's feelings were not obvious. Could it be that Darcy had really thought that he was helping Bing?

She shook off the thought, and read on to the part where he explained about Wickham.

'In the matter of Wickham, this is the truth – everything I write is truthful, and of that I give you my word. Where it may differ from what _he _told you, I assure you that my account is accurate. When he was of age to go to college, I offered him the tuition money my father had promised him. He took it, but not to study, as he had said he would. He simply used it up. He came to me three years later, and demanded more money; he wished to study now. I refused.'

Lizzie stopped reading. Wickham had already used Darcy's money, and then wanted more? She suddenly didn't know what to believe. So she read the last paragraph.

'I regret to say that after I refused him the money, he travelled to LA, where my sister was living at boarding school. She was sixteen at the time, and it pains me to tell you this. Your Mr Wickham, with his… struggles, seduced my sister. He made her believe that he was in love with her, and it was only when I went to visit her one day that I heard she was going to leave school to stay with him. In my opinion, he only did this to harm me, and it terrifies me to think what would happen if he had led her on any longer. I hope that I can assume you will keep what I have told you to yourself, because I do not wish any harm to come to my sister, for whom I care deeply.'

She stopped reading. George had… seduced Darcy's sister? A sixteen-year-old? Surely this wasn't the same funny, charming, George she knew? It couldn't be. But what if it was. Possibly there was an apology owed. Not forgiveness. But an apology.

She opened up her email.


End file.
